Baroness Helena Kennedy

Biographical Information
"Helena Kennedy practises predominantly in criminal law, undertaking leading work of all kinds. She also undertakes judicial review, public inquiries and sex discrimination work. She has acted in many leading cases including the Brighton Bombing Trial, the Guildford Four Appeal and many of the trials of battered women who kill their partners.

"She has 20 honorary doctorates in law and is Vice-President of the Haldane Society, the Association of Women Barristers and a Patron of the civil rights organisation Liberty. She chaired the Commission of Inquiry into Violence in Penal Institutions for Young People and the Commission¹s report Banged Up, Beaten Up, Cutting Up was published in 1995. She is an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and a Fellow of the City and Guilds of London Institute. A member of the Foreign Policy Centre's Advisory Council, she is also a Bencher of Gray¹s Inn and a Member of the House of Lords.

"Baroness Kennedy is President of the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. She is a member of the French Academie Universelle des Cultures, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and President of the National Children's Bureau. As commissioner on the National Commission for Education, she chaired a committee on widening participation in further education and the commission's seminal report, Learning Works, was published in 1997. In 1999 she became a member of the World Bank Institute's External Advisory Council. She was a member of the International Bar Association's Task Force on Terrorism which reported in 2003.

"A frequent broadcaster and journalist on law and women's rights, Helena Kennedy created the BBC television series Blind Justice in 1987 and presented the BBC's Heart of the Matter (1987), Raw Deal, on Medical Negligence, (1989), The Trial of Lady Chatterley's Lover (1990) and Time Gentlemen, Please (1994) and she was the first female moderator of the BBC's Hypotheticals. She presented Channel 4's After Dark throughout the 80s and continues to present the show in its current incarnation on BBC 4. Her award-winning book on women in the criminal justice system, Eve was Framed, was published in 1992. Her latest book, Just Law, on the changing face of justice and why it matters to us all was published in March 2004."


 * President, Interact Worldwide
 * Trustee, Institute for Strategic Dialogue
 * Council member, World Future Council
 * Patron, Peace Direct
 * Patron, Kurdish Human Rights Project
 * Advisor, Delfina Foundation